Kohli back as saviour
Raina shines; Black Caps fall dramaticaly after Ojha and others strike
Bangalore: Virat Kohli performed a brilliant recovery act and was just seven runs short of his second Test century as India bounced back from a precarious position to leave the second cricket Test against New Zealand evenly poised here on Saturday.
After restricting New Zealand to 365 in the first innings, the Indians were tottering at 80 for four at one stage before Kohli (93 not out) led the Indian fightback as they reached 283 for five at close on the second day at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Suresh Raina (55) and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (batting 46) also played an important part in India's recovery. The home side still trail by 82 runs with five first innings wickets intact after a half-and-hour's extended play.
The umpires Ian Gould and Steve Davis decided to extend play as 34 minutes were lost yesterday due to bad light. However, play continued under the lights for the second consecutive day.
Kohli was involved in a crucial 99-run partnership with Raina for the fourth wicket and then put on 104 runs with Dhoni for the unbroken sixth wicket stand.
Kohli initially played a waiting game until he found his bearings and executed some delightful drives early on. Later on, he intermittently raised the tempo scoring couple of boundaries in an over. The Delhi batsman chose loose balls to attack and paced his innings well to see India narrow the deficit.
Kohli brought his fifth Test half century off 100 balls in style by clipping pacer Tim Southee to fine leg fence for four. Dhoni arrived at the crease when India were in a spot of bother at 179 for five and targeted Kiwi spinner Jeetan Patel in order to get the momentum going.
Dhoni was a delight to watch against Patel as he smashed four boundaries, one off the backfoot through covers and then a helicopter shot over long on and two over deep square leg fence.
Raina, who was looking to capitalise on a partnership with Kohli, began the post tea session with caution, not playing too many shots.
SCORE CARD
New Zealand first innings: Martin Guptill c Gambhir b Ojha 53; Brendon McCullum lbw Zaheer 0; Kane Williamson lbw Ojha 17; Ross Taylor lbw Ojha 113; Daniel Flynn lbw Ashwin 33; James Franklin c Raina b Ojha 8; Kruger van Wyk c Raina b Zaheer 71; Doug Bracewell run out (Zaheer) 43; Tim Southee lbw Ojha 14; Jeetan Patel c Gambhir b Yadav 0; Trent Boult batting 2.
Extras:11
Total: 365 all out
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-63, 3-89, 4-196, 5-215, 6-246, 7-345, 8-353, 9-353, 10-365.
Bowling: Pragyan Ojha 28.1-10-99-5; Zaheer Khan 22-2-83-2; Umesh Yadav 16-1-90-1; Ravichandran Ashwin 24-5-82-1.
India first innings: Gautam Gambhir b Southee 2; Virender Sehwag c Flynn b Bracewell 43; Cheteshwar Pujara c Boult b Southee 9; Sachin Tendulkar b Bracewell 17; Virat Kohli batting 93; Suresh Raina c van Wyk b Southee 55; MS. Dhoni batting 46.
Extras: 18
Total: 283/5
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-27, 3-67, 4-80, 5-179.
News Posted: 2 September, 2012
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